It was a great pleasure to look at the wide range of photographic visions presented by the photographers from Georgia and Germany participating in the Kolga Photo Competition 2011. It’s very interesting to see, that the way of seeing life is different in the two countries. We are living in a globalised world, but the individual perceptions, developed in the context of cultural, political and social influences, are still varying. Thereby they are creating a richness of a pluralistic perspective on our life. That makes the dialog between the cultures so important.
We are very excited about the quality of many photographic series from Georgia. There is a great feeling for the right light, the decisive moment, the strong expression, the effective mise-en-scène and also a good sense of humour. These are all traditional qualities of photography, but they are often used in a contemporary way.
The works from German photographers are more based on conceptions. Beside classical genres of photography they want to find new ways of telling stories about modern life. The images are often irritating, because they are denying a conventional view..
Looking at so much good photographs it was not easy to select the winners of this competition. We have chosen five very different photographic styles to make clear, that there are a lot of possibilities for individual imagery in contemporary photography.